IT TAKES PRACTICE

IT TAKES PRACTICE

It takes practice to repeat the success  you had, just last year.  And as we go through this life, we realize, youth indeed was a gift and exceeded all expectations.   I am one of the lucky ones, but it still takes effort to put out and be received in a genuinely gracious manner.  I extend myself, but by this time in life I know what I am good at.  And am saying this because I was just looking out the window, kind of a gray day, and looks like a whisp of light rain.  But I can deal with that. 

 

Mountains to the west, buildings to the east.  Great contrast and a breath of fresh air, from the mountains and across the water, now reaching out to me, and I am grateful.  Thinking about being in the mountains or just in climate and weather, dealing with the next incident of life.  Terrific.  And brings me to understanding how fortunate my life has been.  But then arrive back to my first thought.   It takes practice.

 

Baseball thoughts.  Spring Training.   It takes practice to be this good, but is why they pay them and discard them when performance wanes.  As for me,  I see the big picture.  Mountains to the West.  Buildings in the East.   Stand tall and improvise.  Check out the online hype and then wander off.  Call it a day.  Most are stuck at the office, or in a sweatshop, or at home working the computer.  Just managing.  Getting by.  And I notice today is Chinese New Year.   Was at the Asian store just yesterday.  Was fun to see the people out and about, preparing to celebrate with their families.  I liked that. 

For me, it mostly about Tiers of Family.   Am the grandfather type now.  Flux and flow between the constant of thought and dream, mixing Asian seasoning with Euro-Refinement.  Mediterranean Diet and  all of this reminds me to say by prayers, brush my teeth, and wave when out in public and you pass me by.  Not that the baseball season is fast and furious and fleeting.  So many ways to make the adjustment, gage the pitch and strike out.  Is what I do when I go west into the mountains, leaving the city behind.   I find it cute that Chinese New Years celebration surrounds me with the pink of Cherry Blossoms, and crab bisque. 

 

Takes practice  to dabble in the cultural affairs of people you don’t even know.  Takes practice to blend in.  And I am thinking, who cares that you were just this close to winning 2 Super Bowls in consecutive years.  Can you throw a  97 mph fastball.   Can you out run me?

Heartbeat and strong hands is almost enough to turn the corner on yesterday, and make your way along the corridor of wisdom and truth.  Is important to know what the children are doing, but as it turns out, with cell phone and smart device in hand, its all so deceptive.  Not like everything is a countdown to disaster, but as the election year gets closer to electing a supreme commander and chief, you see people lining up and hoping to get some of the offerings the system dangles in front of the ambitious ones. 

As for me, it takes practice to look the other way.  Go back to Day 1   and Transcription 12.   Memorize the parts I missed, and hope to improve.   Calgary.   Hockey.   Lent.   Cold enough to shiver and not go around with bare feet.  Mostly seeking out a lull in the storm.  Seeking a walk down to the ferry dock, and then due west.  Into the mountains.  Not working.   Have enough for now.   Plants on the deck below are turning green.  No worry stalks me and not really tomatoes that inspire me to practice more.  Heartbeat and strong hands, and I adore you.   That’s enough.   For now.

 

Technical difficulties do not deter me from practicing on the wire of the unknown.  Slip and fall, and you are destined to meet your maker, or so might priced doctor, or at best another trip to Medicare to see if your insurance covers all of this.  As for me I know.  Its just a test.  Its just words they give to you, like an implant for mind control, as they prepare you for the arduous path you are about to embark on.   I remember youth.   I remember the View Nam War.   I remember thinking it would be nice to have a warm bath, but times were brutal.  Deferred and often deported, time warp and stale sandwich.   No McDonalds.  No Subway.  

 

Mountains and Building became a rally cry.  911.  And so it is, it takes practice to keep the peace, rattle a sword and control the sun and the snow and be the star of this afternoons practice.   We look forward to it.  Everybody loves the day their paycheck is deposited.  Chinese New Year.  Drones in my backyard, and I am thinking.   How’s it going.  Anything new?

 

IMPROVISING AND IMPROVING

IMPROVISING AND IMPROVING

One begins the day, and if you work there is a routine that works for this situation.  The details vary, but when I remember back, I found myself being very comfortable in the fact that I had a job, could influence others and have a degree of control and power, or at least a sense of it, because I had money coming in that I could predict and depend upon.  From that point, or because of that I began to work on other projects, while still making work the main fact of my life. 

One begins the day, and if you don’t work it is because you don’t have a job, or perhaps its because you had a job and kept it for a very long time, and now you at the end stage, where they say the baby boomers are getting older, finishing up their time of dominance in the work place, and moving on to the next stage of life.  And that would be, retirement or part-time work, or something I would like to think of as Improvising and Improving on the moment and the place you are in life.  And so that is my theme for today:  Improvising and improving.

 

Start my day pretty much like I do every day.  Not important to give details, but it didn’t take me long to figure out, I was bored.  That if I continued doing the same thing over and over again, boredom would take over.  But I wasn’t ready to just say or convince myself, that the things I was doing, was not sufficient or worthy.  After all, I had worked a life time to have enough money, to retire and determine how I might spend my days, as if it was a special choice and situation.  And it is.  Dawns on me that its up to me, what I do.  24/7.  Okay so I am not yet ready to be comfortable  with the idea of being at work 24/7.  Meaning I have a smart phone and technology and work is constant or can be.  Phone rings, demands attention, and you answer it.  Slave to the demands of the devices and things that make up your day.  24/7.  

And this is the very reason I do not have a cell phone.  Want some peace and quiet.  Want to be in control.  And so when it dawns on me that I must do something more or different than what I do each morning when I wake, make my way to my activity stations, mainly the kitchen where I brew a pot of tea, and then the kitchen where I have a computer work station conveniently off to the side, where it doesn’t interfere with cooking and cleaning and well it doesn’t interfere with the things would normally do in the kitchen.

 

Into the kitchen and for the first hour of my day, there is much I can be doing.  Part of the normal routine, to make tea, clean up around the sink, putting away last night dishes.  Yes, am a bit old fashion, and don’t have a dish washer, automated.  After a long day, doing dishes late at night isn’t really my thing.  But day after day, having a clean kitchen to start my day, is a mandatory thing.  Makes it easier to fix tea and breakfast.  Makes it easier to look around and decide, something new or left overs.  And so in all of this is a routine, and I take it as mandatory.  Am sure if I had a housekeeper and she kept my kitchen clean and ready for the next days usage, I could be doing something else.  But without her, I  haven’t gotten too far away from what I do, day in and day out.

 

And that is spending the first hour of each day, saying prayers, thankful that I have another day of life.  After that its tea and kitchen straightening up, and then enjoying the tea, sitting nearby looking at the computer.  Looking to see if I have received any new emails.  Looking to see if the daily banner news, is of interest.  And so it is, the first hour of my day is more or less, automatic.  And somewhere along the way I asked myself, “Could I improvise and improve on any of this.  Would doing so, make me more content and satisfied?”

 

Started the morning and it dawned on me, I didn’t really like what I was seeing or doing.  Now this doesn’t happen everyday.  Most days I am happy being left with the way things are.  So it take me long to free myself from the kitchen sink, adjust my state of mind, and figure out what it was that was bothering me.  And once I was able to tell myself, “This too will pass.”, I was able to get on with things.  Part of moving past my discomfort so early in the morning, was to come to grips or understanding of the why of the matter.  “Why do you let things like this bother you?  You know better.” 

 

Indeed, on this day it is true.  I know how to make things better.  So first, I should clue you in.  Seems this is super bowl nfl football week.  4 days before the big game.  And there is a routine and a basic interest, so I turned on the computer, went to the headline/online news concerning the Super Bowl, and quickly realized.  “Dumb.  Dumb.  Dumb.”  Is the point of this blog, it took me longer than what was certainly necessary, to feel the discomfort and do something about it.  Details for a few minutes will purge my soul.  And often I write blogs to just make things go away, and to purge my soul.  Okay this might sound silly.  But it is what I do.

 

Super Bowl Week will go by quickly.  Is the job of the media people to do what is necessary to hold our interest during the 7 days before the game, and then do it adequately so we are not burnt out on the whole routine, and just like clockwork we tune in on the game, inspire a Super Bowl Party, and have fun based on the notion that the best two teams in the NFL are playing football with each other.  So that is the details.  Too much football, but will be the last of it on Sunday.  Then we wait for Spring Baseball.  Damn Yankees.  Like I said, “Habits are hard to break.”

 

Improvise and Improve.  Is what I will be doing this week.  Is already Wednesday so it is not hard to imagine what might be on my schedule.  Improve in the sense, that if you are bored and disinterested, it is up to you to make changes and get an energy infusion.  Or not.  Choice is like that.  And since I don’t want this blog to get too long, I will stop here.  Winter Storm in the North East.  Boston got hit, and we have gotten use to the idea of Boston and Buffalo being difficult places to play this time of year.  Turns out the New England Patriots are in Arizona, preparing for the Super Bowl.  Good luck all.

As for me.  My Seattle Seahawks will improvise and hopefully improve.  Last year they won the big game.  What happens this year I will leave to your imagination.  And go into the kitchen and put the clean dishes away, make lunch and decide.  New And Improved.  How good is that.  Deflate the Footballs.  Talk about that on Media Day. 

 

And by the time Sunday rolls around, we will be ready for The Big Game.  Some of will watch the game.  Others will watch the commercials.  Some will drink and socialize.  Others will ignore the situation and we know what that is all about.  So done with this blog.  Have a good day.  “Damn Yankees.”  Big Storm.  Dig yourself out and take care of you.  That’s what I am saying.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

I don’t want to put undue pressure on myself, and like it when things occur in its natural state.  A rain storm would be a good example.  Unprepared, but then in the moment and it makes me happy.  The unexpected and to respond spontaneously and without a lot of backlash, reminds me of the old days, when technology was at a minimum and people just had no idea, what was going on.  And so today, I am pleased with myself.  Want to get back in a routine that suits me, and it is true I have been in the wobble stage, getting out of synch and orbit with the natural part of my existence. 

 

Like I said, my reference point back then was those things that occurred naturally, in my backyard.  A protected space and we had a fence to keep the dogs in, and the neighbor’s visual point at a minimum.  Nothing new here.  Home and backyard and privacy.  Was a natural starting place for a day in life.  That was then, before technology.  And this how I will build on the subject for today’s blog:   Conflict of Interest.  Will find a way to open up the gate and let you in.  Bring you into my realm and sphere of influence, and even then not sure if you will see me in my natural state, because of course, over time I have had to adjust and improvise. 

 

In my backyard and on the planet, my current natural state is not my preferred existence.  Not sure I can expand on that, being I like to keep my blogs short and mostly impersonal, as a matter of passing entertainment for those who read blogs to get a casual look at how others live and spend their day.  Conflict of Interest, and yet I open the gate and let you in.  With the warning of course, be careful where you walk as I am still in process of picking up the dog’s crap and his leftover’s from yesterday.  Bird carcass included.

 

Conflict of Interest in my backyard and here I am on location, picking up after the dog and windstorm that has spread things around.  Took a few minutes but now have safe passage in a natural state of relaxation and heightened interest.  Like being here, with laptop and the capability to share good times with you.  It is winter, and so I am dressed appropriately, with not that much to see or tell.  Conflict of Interest is the theme and am in the mood to do some exercise.  Too cold to do it in my backyard, and so after doing my chores I will move the action indoors.  Where things will heat up and I will chill, but in a good way.  Have visions of yoga and stretching and getting limber. 

 

Is what has been missing lately, as I spent much of September to December on the road, involved with an experiment to determine if I could combine my normal solo state of existence with another, go on the road and develop the possibility of being a snowbird, which suggests heading into the sun, leaving the comforts of home and backyard behind, and with dog on leash, join the millions that have found an alternative way of life, called Snow-Birding.   Ok, so I have mentioned this before and it turns out my travel companion has a conflict of interest, that resides away from me.  Family and Work call out.  Not ready to abandon the life and take on the characteristics of a rolling stone.  

 

So after 3 months in the let’s-try-it-stage, Stoney blogger has returned home and its time to exercise and get back into shape.  Shape the mind.  Work on the body.  Write some blogs.  Watch some football.  Be a guy.  Do the man thing.  And so that’s where you find me.  In my backyard.  Picking up after the dog.  Figuring out what comes next.  Conflict of Interest and sharing the backyard with you.  Then realizing that it is too cold to do this for very long.  So I am headed inside.

Inside now, and getting down to the bare essentials.  Backyard chores are done.  Conflict of Interest, done.  Now is time for me to relax and listen to self and music.  Feels good to be free of worry and the hassle of commuting to work.  Stress free and that’s the part I want you to see.  Dog is curling up by the fire.  Happy with the present moment.  Not going back to the RV until the Super Bowl is over.  That happens on Sunday.  The last of the football for me, and will plant some seeds and get an early start on Spring and baseball and the boys of summer. 

Renewable energy produced by a little white ball hit by a bat, and at a certain level, is harder to do than one could imagine.  Backyard days and stick ball.  Easy to enjoy and hit the fence, just 20 feet away.  Now it’s a major sport, as is football and is done by an exclusive group of athletes .  Seems when backyard activities become big business there is a conflict of interest.  But that’s where I change directions.  Because my local team is still involved, and the Super Bowl is next Sunday, I will keep at it.

Will read the sports headlines and a few articles.  Will watch to see what others are doing and coping with.  But mostly I will stay walking distance from my backyard, forget about The RV and Sunshine on the immediate horizon.  Won’t chase.  Will let the day and its’ contents come to me, naturally.  And that’s it.  In my natural state.  Not going to Arizona for the week or weekend.  Will be like millions of ordinary people and guys.  Watching the Super Bowl Game on TV and on the big screen.  And thinking.  This is it.  Football season is over.  Life as we know it has ended.  And then it dawns on me.  Conflict of Interest and the answer is in my backyard. 

 

All I have to do, is wake the dog.  Grab the favorite toy, and exit whatever state of mind that has a hold on me, and makes me think:  Football.  My meaning in life.  Time to find out what’s out there.  In my backyard and beyond the fence.  Time to leave sports behind, and find something better to invest in and fill out my day.

 

So that’s my blog for today.  Snow-birding with a friend is fun.  Going to the Super Bowl is fun.  And so is something simple like blogging and sharing time with you.  Will strip down now, and get my exercise mat out.  Want to do a little yoga and stretching and be flexible.  Life without football, and its possible.  But even better, before we leave this conversation, I must say:  “Go Hawks.” 

 

Knowing the rest of winter and the time before spring baseball will be easier to handle, if my team wins two Super Bowl championships in consecutive years.  Not a common feat or occurrence.  So here I am.  That’s my blog for today.  How are you?